Member Spotlight

What brought you to C44/CrossFit in the first place?

I had lost a little weight from changing my diet and family friends, Jeremy & Jo Anna, noticed my progress. They were members of Crusher and insisted I try Crossfit. This was right before Thanksgiving, and it seemed totally crazy to start something during the holidays, but I promised myself I would give it three weeks. It only took about ten days before I text messaged Jeremy and thanked him for taking me. I love the variety and I never get bored. I have now lost 40 pounds since starting (10 of those were in December!).

What was your first impression? How has that changed?

I was shocked at how welcoming an environment it is. If someone is struggling with a workout and everyone else is done, someone always comes and finishes the workout with the last person, so you are never just working out alone. Even though the workout is an individualized thing, there is a special attitude shared by everyone to be supportive of each other. That impression hasn’t changed, I love seeing this happen over and over. It is such a positive environment.

What has been your most proud moment at Crusher?

I participated in the Crossfit Open! The Kristin of a year ago would never have believed that would happen. In March of 2017 my only exercise was to struggle walking up the 16 flights of stairs to get to my office, but in March of 2018, I was participating in a fitness competition. Honestly, I have proud moments all the time when I surprise myself and do better than I thought I could do. I feel much more confident in general.

What are you working on now?

I had not exercised in a long time before starting so I started using the lightest weights, lowest reps, but now I am working on increased weights and speed. I want to finish losing the last of the weight I need to lose which is my shorter term goal, but my long-term stretch goal would be to do a pull-up.

What’s your favorite Crusher memory?

We ended up doing partner holds, and Jo Anna (my friend that introduced me to Crossfit) who is half my size held me on her back. She is so tough! It was such a goofy activity made goofier watching
other pairs do the same thing.

Do you have advice for someone who might be a bit nervous to give CrossFit a try?

I was so nervous to start. Crossfit has a reputation that it might only be for top athletes. When I started, I struggled to do ten situps or jump rope. While there are people that are doing handstand pushups and legless rope climbing, there are plenty of us that scale movements to what is challenging for us. The whole point is to challenge and beat yourself, and there is no shame in doing less intense movements.
The change in my diet and exercise has had a positive impact on more than just me. My husband has lost 35 pounds from my lifestyle change. My children are enjoying both of their parents being more energetic. We are much more active as a family, more dance parties, more soccer in the backyard, or even trying wall walks all together. It feels good to be a better example to the kids and teaching them self-care is a priority rather than an afterthought.

What brought you to CrossFit in the first place?

I kept seeing a Facebook friend checking in at Crusher Crossfit early last year, and I finally sent her a message asking her about it. I checked out the website and decided to sign up for Bootcamp and haven’t looked back since. Like many people, I was ready to lose the extra baby weight and get back into shape.

What was your first impression? How has that changed?

I was really intimidated at first since I wasn’t very familiar with lifting and weight training. It was hard not to watch other people and think (at least for me anyway), “gees, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do that,” but then that changed as time progressed. For me now, it’s more about pushing myself to my own limits and focusing on my own personal goals.

What has been your most proud moment at Crusher?

I think this changes all the time because I’m always working to be better at something. One of the bigger moments for me was when I actually participated in a competition and held my own. I competed to the best of my ability, and it was great to cheer on the other Crushers who were participating.

What are you working on now?

Those silly double unders (jumping rope when the rope passes under your feet twice per jump) and not psyching myself out when trying something new or when I’m working on something that’s an area of growth.

What’s your favorite Crusher memory?

I seriously have a lot and they usually happen during the 5 AM class. Lots of jokes and cheering each other on happening!

Do you have advice for someone who might be a bit nervous to give CrossFit a try?

Just give it a try, listen to your body, have fun and smile. You’ll never know what you’re capable of if you’re not willing to try something new and if you’re not willing to do the work, even when it’s challenging.

What brought you to Crossfit/C44 in the first place?

Dave: I started in April last year for two reasons – Our daughter, Kate Fonseca, bought me a month of BootCamp, to help me get back in shape. Eighteen months before, I’d had cancer surgery. Our plan was to get me strong, so I could stand up to follow-up radiation in four months. I’m glad I did — it really helped me! And…I’m still here.LOL

Sue: Our daughter, Kate raved about Crossfit! I checked it out/visited Kate one time to observe…nope, that bar thing was not for me!! Then Kate informed me of a new class, C44! I gave it a try in June 2017 when it first started & I’m still there & love it!!

What was your 1st impression? How has that changed?

Dave: Honestly, it was “Wow, I’m really out-of-shape!” especially since most everyone else is the age of my kids! Now, I’m a proud member of the “silver sneakers” crew, and in a lot better shape!

What are you working on now?

What’s your favorite Crusher memory?

Sue: When coach Geo asked me what rep I was at (as I was carrying a kettlebell on my shoulder), & I had totally lost count, so I responded that I don’t know…I’m just doing stuff!! Poor Geo!!

Do you have advice for someone who might be a bit nervous to give CrossFit or C44 a try?

Dave: Work into it slowly, and don’t be hesitant to scale the WODs (Work Out of the Day) down. As you get stronger, and your form improves, you’ll be RXing (doing the workouts at the highest level) in no time.

Sue: It’s going to be totally okay! The coaches are fantastic & really care how you’re doing. Have no fear! It’s worth it!!

What brought you to Crusher CrossFit in the first place?

I have Crohn’s Disease. Crohn’s disease is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease characterized by inflammation of the digestive or GI tract. What that really means is that my immune system is malfunctioning and overactive and that causes it to attack healthy cells in my digestive tract. This for me caused (what I called) ulcers in my ileum (where the large and small intestines meet) I had emergency surgery to remove a foot of my intestines when the ulcers formed an abscess. Then 2 Years ago I had surgery for the opposite of an abscess. This time it was a bowel obstruction. My intestinal wall was scared and narrow causing blockages. Treatments for this, steroids and just the fatigue that goes along with Crohn’s disease caused me to gain 60 lbs in 6 months. The surgery for this removed another foot of my intestine. I felt better after the surgery but still felt fatigued. The Ileum is where nutrient absorption takes place. When some of the ileum is removed this caused issues, including malabsorption of vitamins and nutrients for me mostly including Iron, Protein, Vitamin B12, and Vitamin D. I tried taking high doses of Vitamins and even Iron injections, but nothing that helped. I had gained 60 lbs, Was fatigued, and unfit. Sleeping all the time, not able to get through the day at work, no energy after work to play or spend time with the kids. And on top of that, I was on immune suppressants to stop my immune system from attacking my body. I had to do something.

Working out was what we came up with, we were planning on trying to get pregnant, and I knew that pregnancy would be difficult if I didn’t change the path I was on. I tried the gym next to my office building but quickly realized that indoor running on a treadmill was not something I would enjoy enough to keep me going back to the gym or that it would be something I would want to do long-term (I really hated it). I wasn’t sure where to start with the weights at the gym, so I tried a free hour with a personal trainer. It was not what I expected, and after that session, I could not walk, get up from bed or sit down for 5 days after, so I quit. One day I was buying groceries and checking out when this gentleman in line behind me commented on all the food I was buying and asked me If I had kids, I responded with yes I have 4, he looked and me and said: “and one on the way, congratulations.” I was not pregnant. Because of my recent surgery, I carried most of my weight gain in my middle so I will admit maybe did look a little pregnant.

After I got home from grocery shopping, I was on facebook and saw a check in at Crusher Crossfit. I had never heard of Crossfit, so I looked at the website, and I remember it saying something about working for people that never have worked out. It sounded good to me, so spurred by the gentleman at the grocery store, not having any idea of what Crossfit was, besides fitness, I signed up for the Bootcamp starting 2 days later.

Bootcamp was HARD for me. I was a little discouraged because I was the slowest and weakest in the class, but after the first day I wanted to come back, I wanted to keep working and learning. Once Bootcamp was over, I started coming to class every day, and even though I was still the slowest and weakest, I really didn’t care anymore. I was doing the movements, I was working on me, I was gaining confidence, I was motivated to keep going by how I started feeling. I was tired after the workouts, but I wasn’t exhausted all day. I felt better. I could tell on days that I did not work out as I did not feel the best. I was 36, pregnant, working full time, taking care of 4 kids and was for the first time in a long time able to get through the day without the issues that followed me with Crohn’s disease. I was feeling great. I credit my fantastic pregnancy to keeping active and doing Crossfit. Even after baby, I can see the benefits Crossfit has given me in my day to day life.

What was your first impression? How has that changed?

I started at Crusher Crossfit in late September 2016. It was a nice day, and the garage doors were open for the class that was before boot camp class. As I walked up to the box, my view was of men and women back squatting what looked like to be massive amounts of weights. My first thought was oh my goodness, what did I sign up for? My first impression was wow these people are amazing. That view was very intimidating for me. As time went on that first impression didn’t change, the men and women that come to class and do this are amazing. The change from that first impression is that I see myself in that group now.

What has been your most proud moment at Crusher?

I have so many moments. The first time I ran a mile or rowed a 5K. Every PR. The first time I did 5 rounds with 24 box jumps, (It was to a small box, but that was a big deal for me.). The first time getting up into and holding a handstand. Going from the wall to a box pushup (I remember the workout and who was coaching for this one). Participating in Oktoberfest 5 weeks after baby and one week after coming back. Getting up every time after falling down. Working out every day during my pregnancy past my due date. Not giving up, ever.

What are you working on now?

Right now I am working on general fitness. While I was pregnant I felt like I could do any workout, Run or row any distance or do as many reps as needed of any movement (scaled for the pregnancy of course) after baby I feel like I am back in Boot camp again… Once I feel ready to work on specific movements I want to work on Pushups and Box Jumps.

What’s your favorite Crusher memory?

Doing Friday Night Lights and Oktoberfest. I enjoyed cheering for my fellow athletes and being cheered on. The atmosphere made me what to try harder and be better I really enjoyed competing.

Do you have advice for someone who might be a bit nervous to give CrossFit a try?

Don’t be intimidated by it. Everyone has had a first day where everyone else looked Awesome. They all had to start somewhere, Everyone has things they are good at and things they need to work on. We are all there working toward a goal and supporting each other.
Picture Above: “This is one of my favorite pictures taken on my due date. I don’t look really pregnant in this picture, but you should see the side of view.”

— Amanda R.

Where did she begin? Crusher Bootcamp
Come see what we are all about. Your first class is on us!

Do you want to throw up?…Me too! The feeling you get when you are 99% sure you are going to fail at something, let your team down, disappoint everyone watching and embarrass yourself in front of EVERYONE. Wishing you could walk out the door and hope nobody noticed you left. I get it. I was there….the struggle was REAL.

Let me back up to over a month ago, when I said yes to compete on an RX team. I was aware of what the workouts were, so I knew there were skills that I struggled with and one that I had never even attempted…legless rope climbs. I committed knowing I would need to put in the extra time and effort to prepare. Adam gave me some drills to work on, but I never completed the skill, a few no reps here and there and those didn’t help with confidence. Hurting myself while practicing rope climbs took two weeks away from really being able to do much. With a week before the competition, I was just trying to get back to good squatting form as pain-free as possible, not to mention my loss of conditioning.

To say I went into the weekend with some doubts and hesitation is an understatement. But I could not ask for a better team to compete with or a more supportive community in general. The emotions on Saturday were normal, anxious before an event and exhausted after. I knew I could do everything I was expected to do, but you always want to do your best.

My dreaded event was first thing on Sunday morning….dun dun dun

When I woke up from the worst sleep ever, I wanted to leave and go home. (I’m talking nightmares that I would fall from the top of the rope or end up stranded in my lane for 8 minutes). I was tired, sore and not ready to face this challenge. I went to the gym early to support the other Crusher teams. I was there physically but mentally, it was questionable. I was hot then cold, wanted to sit down but too nervous so had to stand and walk, hungry but pretty confident I was going to throw up. Convinced myself that I shouldn’t have eaten the pizza last night, I didn’t need the added weight to haul up the rope. In all of my years of being an athlete, I’ve never experienced such anxiety and personal doubt. I’ve known that other workouts or events would be tough but knew to some degree I could do it. I had ZERO confidence and was pretty sure I would fail with this. When it was time to warm up I didn’t touch the rope, hardly even looked at it. Pretty sure I gave the stink eye to every other girl who so nimbly and quickly climbed to the top without using her legs and made it look SO DAMN EASY. Even told Adam I wasn’t about to touch that thing, because at this point I was either going to do it or not, trying 15 minutes before wasn’t going to make a difference. Hardly touched the deadlift bar because I had to get past four legless ropes climbs before I was “rewarded” with the heavy deadlifts.

Time for staging…it was about to get real. At this point, there is no more time to go to the bathroom. The only option would be to walk out the door and leave…but three other awesome athletes and teammates were counting on me to be there. This is a good time to add that my teammates had 1,000 times more confidence in me than I did. Everything they said was positive and supportive and trying to build me up. I was just too much in my head to listen to what they were saying. Note: This event was one where each person needed to complete their portion before they could move on, tagging out was not an option. When it was my turn, it was all on me, if I failed I was stuck there until the end of the event.

I barely remember walking to our lane. But I remember Greg and Adam basically telling me to shut up and do it, (They said it much nicer, but that’s what I heard). In the 10 second countdown, I was holding back tears if ever a black hole would appear the next 5 seconds would have been nice. Jen did awesome as did Adam. I was up, do or die, time to get it done, OMG…they only used 3 minutes out of 12…..this had the potential to be the longest 9 minutes of my life.

I jumped and grabbed the rope (didn’t fall right back off, so I counted that as victory #1), after three pulls I knew I was going to make it up, the doubt went away. After getting down, I had to push aside the desire to take a victory lap but instead decided to chalk up. As I bent to get chalk, I realized my entire body was shaking, not sure if it was fatigue or relief but it shocked me, again something I had never experienced. Repeat the process three more times. I did it; I made it to the top 4 times. A quick hug with the judge and it was time for the 12 deadlifts I had not been prepared for.

As I ran back to my team I could feel the huge smile on my face; I was so happy. The entire Crusher crew was cheering. But the best part, I wasn’t met with high-fives from Adam and Jen (Greg was taking his 60 seconds to do his portion)…..I was met with hugs!!! Such an awesome feeling to know they were celebrating my success. There is a pretty good chance that they were even more excited than I was. They had the confidence in me and knew I could do it. They watched me overcome the doubt and do what I needed to do.

After the event, while walking away, Adam looked at me and said, aren’t you glad you committed to this, if you hadn’t you would still be back at the box saying you can’t do legless rope climbs. So true, so very true.

A few things I was reminded of this weekend.

· It’s okay to be afraid….but don’t let it stop you.

· Continue to put yourself in the uncomfortable and unknown, you will get stronger.

· Nobody is judging you; they are pushing you to be your best self.

· Have fun!

· Nobody cares about your failures.

· Everybody has their “legless rope climbs” that “thing” they don’t think they can do. When you commit and work, it will come, and you can smile, cry and celebrate….and you won’t be alone when you do.

Push Up Prep

Are you ready for Memorial Day Murph? Join us in our annual Push Up Challenge! Perform the amount of push ups shown, on each day. Notice there are options to scale, as well as options to step it up a notch! On your rest days, be sure to go for a jog and practice your running. To continue your practice with pull ups and air squats, we advise you coming to the box 4x a week and getting your workouts in. See you at the Murph!

Click below to check out the Crusher Push up Challenge Calendar and get started!

Up to the Challenge

Alec – Junior at Waconia High School

What brought you to CrossFit in the first place?
I think the biggest thing that brought me to crossfit is the community. Crossfit is a very challenging activity but with the community there supporting you it feels a lot easier and more inviting.

What was your first impression? How has that changed?
At first I was very intimidated of Crossfit as a whole but after working through on-ramp and relearning everything, I felt way more confident and I became way more interested in Crossfit

What was your first “proud moment?”My proudest moment at Crusher was when I got my first bar muscle up and ring muscle up in the same day

What are you working on now?Right now I’m trying to get more hip movement in my snatch and clean and jerk.

What is your favorite Crusher Memory?My favorite Crusher memory so far has to be my first open workout. It’s so fun to see everyone there cheering you on like a sports game.

Teens Who CrossFit

“I Want to Get Better”

What brought you to CrossFit in the first place?My dad was the reason I first started. He kept telling me to try it and eventually I got so annoyed that I gave in!

What was your first impression? How has that changed?I was terrified of everyone in the beginning. I wanted to stick with coach Jen because she was the first person I knew. Now I love going and seeing everybody and getting to know them. It makes the workouts more fun!

What was your first “proud moment?”
My first proud moment was when I did my first banded pull up.

What are you working on now?
I am working on everything. I just want to get better.

What is your favorite Crusher Memory?
My favorite Crusher memory was the first partner workout I ever did. Coach Jody was my partner and I was really struggling at the end so Joe G did burpees and box jumps with me until I finished. That was actually the day I decided to stick around.

CRUSH YOUR GOALS

Tiffani has been a member since March of 2015. She set a goal to get in shape and live a healthier lifestyle. Mission accomplished, and now she is taking it to the next level. Meet Tiff:

“6 months ago I walked into Crusher CrossFit intimidated and scared to death. My intimidation quickly melted by the friendly faces and awesome coaches that helped me with my journey. At the same time I also started a challenge at work called move your marker. They measured my body weight, body fat, glucose, and cholesterol levels. I’m proud to say because of Crusher I definitely moved my markers! I got my final measurements at work yesterday and I am down over 30 pounds, 15% body fat and four pant sizes! My glucose and cholesterol levels have also greatly improved. Thanks to crusher I am so much stronger emotionally, mentally, and physically. I still have more goals to accomplish, but who would have thought at 40-years old I would be getting into the best shape of my life?! I now think of myself as a strong, athletic woman capable of anything! Thank you Crusher!